2 thoughts on “Aboriginal Policy”

The titles of your work, above, speak to the thinly veiled racist themes you espouse.
Your latest foray is riddled with inaccuracies, not to mention venemous inuendo.You neglect to mention the 400+ healing projects funded by AHF that provide services and support to former residential school students and their families and make it sound as if the AHF staff in Ottawa absorb all the dollars!
I coordinate an AHF project and have for the past 9 years. The Ottawa AHF staff are both accountable and compassionate and with great effort maintain that delicate balance.
There have been independent project evaluations – our project was the subject of one!
You criticize the onerous accountability requirements – what would you say if they were lax? And, if you had bothered to do any research outside of talking to 1 or 2 disgruntled people, you would find that AHF was given an award by a neutral association – I cannot recall the name at this time – for its outstanding level of financial accountability.
It is clear you have “an axe to grind” with First Nations but hide behind a veneer of “concern” about taxpayer money, the “Aboriginal industry”, etc. What is not clear – given that there are others like you, many of whom feel comfortable in the KKK and the Natzi Party – is why you are still a columnist at the National Post. I know it is right wing but you are off the charts and do not seem to have journalistic ethics let alone research skills. Shame!

I’m an aboriginal lawyer, grad student and a citizen of the Ojibwe Nation. I have read a number of articles condemning you. I do not agree with your various theories, but I think it is very important that your voice be heard. I do not think that you are a racist; however, I believe that you have very little knowledge about Aboriginal cultures, histories or aspirations.

It seems to me that your observations and opinions of aboriginal peoples are overwhelmingly negative. What are you objectives? Do you want to help aboriginal peoples?

Your colleagues Prof. von Gernet and Mr. Flanagan espouse an assimilationist agenda with regard to aboriginal peoples. Speaking of the aboriginal industry, according to the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty website, Prof. von Gernet was paid more that $321,000.00 Department of Indian and Northern Affairs between July 10th, 1999 and October 31st 2002. Prof. von Gernet has testified as an expert witness for the Crown no less than eleven times in Native Rights/Land Claims cases. In each instance his testimony has directly contradicted evidence brought by the First Nations band or individuals involved.

Residential schools were part of the assimilationist policy (explicitly and tacitly). Excuse me if I am wrong, but I read that you defended the residential school system. And now you are wondering why you are being attacked and censured! That’s just foolish. Your opinion regarding residential schools is tantamount of the opinions of Ernst Zundel and his ilk. As a child my aunt died in residential school and her body still lies in an overgrown graveyard in Chapleau, Ontario where the school used to be. My family has never been told how she died.

Canada’s aboriginal peoples are sovereign regardless of the view of the Canadian government. As far as the tax dollars of Canadian citizens are concerned, they can keep it. Aboriginal peoples want their fair share of the trillions of dollars of resources that are being extracted from our sovereign territories.